


talk is cheap

by poseidon



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Multi, Pre-OT3, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 22:45:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5473328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poseidon/pseuds/poseidon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey stays by Finn's side while he sleeps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	talk is cheap

Rey stays by Finn's side while he sleeps.

She wants to make sure she's the first one he sees when he wakes up, to make sure he's okay, to let him know he's safe.

The medics don't mind her, but they do make her go outside when they change his bandages. Good thing, too - she thinks she might be sick if she sees what that evil,  _evil_ Sith did to him. Kylo Ren.

Her hands clench into fists at the thought of his name and she tries not to think about how ready she was to kill him before the ground split between them.

* * *

When R2D2 wakes up and reveals the location of Luke Skywalker, Rey knows she will be the one to meet him there.

She doesn't know  _why_ she knows or  _how_ she knows, but she knows. It must be the Force.

She remembers his anguish and suffering, watching not just his pupil but his  _nephew_ , his own flesh and blood, fall into the hands of the Dark side. Kylo Ren wasn't just a Sith. He and Ben Solo are two sides of the same coin and the right one, the one still in tune with the Light side, had come out just a little at Starkiller Base.

 _There's still good in him_ , someone once said - Luke, about his father and someone else, about Kylo Ren - and Rey knows what she has to do to bring Luke back.

General Organa asks her if she'll be willing to go. She hesitates and thinks of Finn in his bed, almost lifeless, and gives a firm nod.

* * *

General Organa finds her at Finn's side again, a few hours after the meeting, sitting silently. She's kicked her shoes off and her bare feet rest on the metal floor of the infirmary.

It's so different from Jakku, where the lingering feel of sand against your skin never left no matter how many times you try shaking it out or rubbing it away. This floor is so much smoother, cooler, and she definitely prefers it.

She thinks about Finn and how he had to go about wearing his uniform and helmet and how it must've felt taking it off for the final time and knowing he'd never put it on again.

Liberating, she thinks.

She almost forgets that she's not alone with Finn when Organa looks down at him and says, "He's a strong kid. I'm sure he'll be back on his feet sooner you'd think." She puts a hand on Rey's shoulder and gently squeezes. "You'll be ready to leave by the end of the week?"

Rey swallows down a lump in her throat and says, "Yes. I will."

Organa nods, but doesn't leave. She lets out a sigh and turns to Rey. "You heard the stories about Cloud City, right? How Luke was battling Darth Vader and he lost his hand? Then he fell and hung from the bottom of the city until we rescued him?"

Rey nods. Of course she knows. She knows everything she could gather from the archives of her AT-AT, the stories they told at Niima Outpost, whatever she could get her hands on at the junk settlement. She knows it all.

"Well, there's something the stories left out," Organa says. "We'd been flying away from Cloud City - Lando, Chewie, and I - with no idea that we were leaving Luke behind. The only reason we turned around was..." her face softens, looking back into the past as she continues, "was because he'd called me using the Force."

"How?" Rey asks.

"We share a bond, Luke and I, through all the trials we'd been through together and our sibling bond," she explains. "He reached out to me through the Force and I felt him. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced - couldn't describe it even if I tried - but it helped us so much.

"And Finn," Organa's lips quirk as she looks back to him, "well, his first priority when he came to this base was to get you back from the First Order. Wouldn't take no for an answer. He even signed up for a mission he had no idea how to accomplish so he would have a chance to see you."

Rey smiles a little despite herself, thinking of how Finn tried holding her hand to save her on Jakku as they fled. She looks up at Organa and, for a moment, sees the fiery princess she once was before aging into the wise general she now is, old with wisdom and knowledge of years past.

"Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" she asks.

"I do," Rey says, except she doesn't know how to do it.

"Good," Organa says. She pauses for a moment. "Han had nice things to say about you too."

The lump in Rey's throat is back and she blinks back tears. "He - he was - very good."

"I know," Organa sighs. She kisses Rey's head, gently, and stays with her for a few moments.

* * *

Dameron visits often. He introduces himself after the first visit and grins at her. "You must be Rey. Finn and BB-8 have told me all about you."

She's a little taken aback by his personality but recovers nicely. "BB-8 tells me you're a good person, too."

"BB-8 is a flatterer," he says but he's still grinning and Rey doesn't know what to make of him.

He comes by once, twice, three times over the course of three days, eager to talk to the comatose Finn and detail his day. BB-8 often trails at his heels, whirring and chirping happily when it sees Rey.

Rey's happy to see the droid, too, but she's not sure how she feels about Dameron. How can he have so much he needs to tell Finn, chat with him as though he'll sit up at any moment and start responding?

She asks him on his fourth visit, two days before she's set to leave, and he looks at her and says, "I don't know."

She blinks.  _Not_ what she was expecting.

"Talking comes easy to me, and I think it might help him out, hearing someone familiar," he elaborates. "I don't know  _why_ it's so easy but I do know that it's the least I can do after he saved my life."

"I see," Rey says. "You gave him his name, right?"

"Yup," Dameron smiles. "His old one was a mouthful - all numbers, barely any letters."

Rey scoffs, but the corners of her mouth turn up anyway.

Dameron seems to have noticed and he starts grinning again. "You see that, Finn? I think she's grown to like me."

* * *

It's her last day at Finn's bedside, and she doesn't know why she hasn't spoken to him yet or tried using the Force to communicate.

Well, she does know why - she doesn't want to find out if he's badly hurt, dying, unable to come out of his deep sleep and now permanently trapped in it, doomed to never wake again.

She doesn't know what she'd do if that were the case. But it's a complete long-shot and she knows she has to try and talk to him before she leaves.

Rey closes her eyes and takes deep breaths, in and out, until the world is calm around her and she can feel  _everything._ General Organa, rooms away, weary and grieving and  _longing_  so much it hurts. Dameron, not far away, light and energetic and hopeful that Finn will wake up and he will hug him tightly and not let go this time.

And closer, weaker than the rest but still there, is  _Finn_. She can feel him, slowly but surely growing stronger, and that's all she wanted to know.

She opens her eyes and looks at him, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. "I know we will meet again," she whispers against his skin, before standing up slowly and heading out of the room.

She's sure they will.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not completely certain if she kisses his head and then speaks or the other way around, so if this bothers anyone who knows the correct order, let me know!


End file.
